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Word to Fairgoers: All Roads Do Lead There

Nothing, not even a partial road closure and some imposing detour signs, will keep people from the fair.

That’s the hope of Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society as the 152nd annual Livestock Show and Fair begins today at the West Tisbury fair grounds on Panhandle Road. The fair runs all weekend. Blue-ribbon seekers were dropping off jams and handmade skirts and artwork this week while fair manager Eleanor Neubert said she had another task this week: making sure people can come.

A stretch of South Road near where President Obama is renting a vacation home is closed during his trip, including for all four days of the fair. As such, detour signs went up in North Tisbury and in West Tisbury as people approach town center, warning drivers to follow a North Road detour. Coming from North Tisbury, the detour would take people away from the fair location.

The detour signs were worrisome, Ms. Neubert said, “but we remedied the situation.” She contacted the state, which owns the road, and asked for permission to put up a signs directing people to the fair. The state approved, and the signs are now up. Signs have been placed at the Brandy Brow intersection just past the Mill Pond, and also at the entrance to North Road in North Tisbury. They say “Fair,” with arrows pointing drivers in the right direction, and “Road to the Fair Is Open.”

“We want to encourage people to come to the fair,” she said. “We are happy that the president is here for a week of vacation. We’ll just work around it.”

The signs will “make people realize that all roads lead to the fair,” Ms. Neubert said. “Which they do.”

The fair runs from Thursday through Sunday, August 18.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.